


Young, Dumb, and in Love

by LordOfVibes



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: AU where El and Max are best friends in Season 2, AU where El and Mike broke up, Denial of Feelings, F/F, Internalized Homophobia, Lesbian Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Pansexual Eleven | Jane Hopper, Period-Typical Homophobia(mentioned), Slow Dancing, coming to terms with feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26733937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LordOfVibes/pseuds/LordOfVibes
Summary: "That was all that Max was thinking about. El. Their kiss. The taste of El’s lips. She wanted more. She needed more. But she shouldn’t want more.“Just friends. Just friends. Just friends…”she thought, until even her own thoughts were lost in the sound of the music."
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Maxine "Max" Mayfield, background Mike Wheeler/Will Byers
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Young, Dumb, and in Love

Max told herself that she had only gone to the Snowball with Eleven because they were best friends. Not because of the kiss they shared, they did that just because El was curious how people other than Mike kissed. But that was before El and Mike broke up and Mike and Will got together. But they were just friends. _Just friends._

Max was standing among the dancing people, staring at the door, waiting for El to arrive. What if her dad didn’t let her come? She saw among the crowd Mike and Will dancing together, Lucas dancing with some random girl she didn’t recognize, and Dustin dancing with Nancy, which was surprising. But this wasn’t the first time Max had been alone at a party. She was used to it. 

The noise, with all the people talking and the music, was almost distracting enough to Max to not notice her date walk into the gym. Among the crowd, she was a bright star among black skies. Suddenly, all the other people and noise drowned out. It felt like they were the only ones in the room. Just Max and El. 

El slowly made her way through the dancing people to stand face to face with Max. She smiled. “Hey Max.” 

“Hey El.” Max almost let the word _“Gorgeous,”_ out of her lips, but she stopped herself. Friends don’t call each other gorgeous. Instead, she said, “That dress looks really nice on you.” 

“Thanks. You look really good too.” 

There was an uncomfortable silence as they just stared at each other. _“Just friends. Just friends,”_ Max had to keep repeating to herself in her head as she remembered the feeling of El’s lips against hers. She wanted to feel that again. But that was wrong. Girls shouldn’t like to kiss other girls. But she couldn’t lie about her feelings. Eventually, Max cleared her throat. “Well, this is a dance. Why don’t we dance?”

“I don’t know how to dance.” 

“I’ll teach you!” Max stood closer to El and put her hands on El’s hips. El let her arms lay across Max’s shoulders. “Just step from side to side,” she said, moving her feet in sync with El’s from left to right in beat to the music. Max took a hand off of El’s hip and used it to push a strand of El’s short curly hair behind her ear. She was so beautiful. 

That was all that Max was thinking about. El. Their kiss. The taste of El’s lips. She wanted more. She needed more. But she shouldn’t want more. _“Just friends. Just friends. Just friends…”_ she thought, until even her own thoughts were lost in the sound of the music. 

“Remember when we hung out, and I asked if Mike was a good kisser, and you said that you didn’t know since you had never kissed anyone other than him. So I asked if I could kiss you, just so you could determine if Mike really was a good kisser or not. And then we kissed?”

El nodded, clearly trying to figure out where this was going. “Yeah. And I said that Mike really was a bad kisser compared to you.” 

They both laughed. Max continued, “Well, now, you and Mike broke up, and Mike realized he likes Will, and now they’re dating. So, you’re single.” 

El nodded again. “Yes.” 

Max leaned in closer to El, placing one of her hands onto El’s cheek. She could feel El’s breath on her face “Can I… kiss you again?”

“Just as friends?”

“Not exactly.” 

El’s face turned red. “Oh…” she said under her breath, but loud enough that Max could hear. Max was so close that their foreheads were touching, the only thing in Max’s line of sight was El’s beautiful brown eyes. “Um… I’d like that.” 

Max immediately pressed her lips against El’s. This was different from their first kiss. Back then, Max had not come to terms with her feelings and was convinced they were only friends. Now, on the dance floor, Max tasting El’s cherry-flavored lipstick, she knew she was in love. And she didn’t care what anyone else thought or said. Everything was perfect at that moment.


End file.
